AUBURN, Ala. – He wasn't around for spring football last year, but now Nick Marshall can play a little catch-up.

He'll be Auburn's returning starting quarterback when the Tigers take the field for the start of spring football, 2014 style, on March 18. The school announced Thursday that it will start spring ball then with the annual A-Day Game set for April 19.

Pro Day, the time for Auburn's pro hopefuls from a year ago to shine, is scheduled for March 4.

Marshall is back on the offense, but two of the headline stories will be finding a replacement for Heisman finalist Tre Mason at tailback and the loss of tackle Greg Robinson, soon to the NFL.

Marshall won the starting quarterback job last fall, despite a limited number of practices, and showed he was up to it. He led Auburn to the SEC championship and came within a few seconds of leading the Tigers to the BCS national title.

He ran for more than 1,000 yards and passed for 1,976 yards. He accounted for 26 touchdowns.

Coach Gus Malzahn marveled all last season how well Marshall performed despite missing spring ball. Now, he can make up for lost time.

"We are really excited about the spring with Nick," Malzahn said as Auburn's 2013 ended. "We got a lot of information throughout the year and we can build around his strengths even more. What he did in one year by not going through year and by winning the job two weeks before the season was phenomenal. I don’t know if there has ever been a situation similar to that. I really think his upside is very high and he’s a natural leader and his teammates have a lot of respect for him as well as his coaches. This will be the first time that we’ve actually had a quarterback come back after one year so we’re pretty excited about that."

Charles Goldberg is a Senior Wrirter at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter:Follow @AUGoldMine